By Andrew Gray
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will have thechance to shoot down a disabled U.S. spy satellite from nextWednesday, after the space shuttle Atlantis ends its currentmission, a U.S. general said on Friday.
"The window will open when the shuttle is on the ground,"said Army Lt. Gen. Carter Ham, director of operations for thePentagon's Joint Staff.
"All those who have a vested interest in this will thenapply their best judgment as to when the best opportunity is tointercept the satellite," he told reporters.
The Pentagon said on Thursday the Navy would try to shootdown the satellite before it enters the atmosphere, using amodified tactical missile from a ship in the Pacific, to averta potentially deadly leak of toxic gas from its fuel tank.
Each missile costs about $10 million (5.1 million pounds)but the U.S. government did not yet have an estimate of thecost of the shootdown operation, Ham said.
The space shuttle is scheduled to land on Wednesday at 2:06p.m. British time at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Ham said the opportunity to shoot down the satellite wouldlast until early March.
Some space experts have criticized the decision to shootdown the satellite, saying the risk of it causing any damage onthe ground was remote.
They suggested the United States wanted to test its abilityto hit other states' satellites. But U.S. officials insisttheir sole aim is to minimize the risk to human life.
Washington strongly criticized China for shooting down anold weather satellite in a test in January 2007.
Neither the United States nor Russia have conducted ananti-satellite operation since the 1980s, analysts said.
The State Department said it would try to reassure othernations the operation was not a statement of intentions aboutinternational arms treaties or anti-satellite weapons.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the U.S.operation was "quite different" from China's test.
The Pentagon's mission would be "to try to protectpopulations on the ground" and take place when the satellite isabout 155 miles (250 km) from earth, he said.
China's operation was designed specifically as a testagainst a satellite and left a large amount of debris in orbitat a higher altitude that could affect the ability of others toput satellites into space, McCormack said.
(Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell, editing by AlanElsner)